This disclosure relates broadly and generally to a computer-implemented land planning System and Method, such as that designed to generate one or more conceptual fit solutions to a user-defined land development problem. In exemplary embodiments described herein, the “problem” is expressed in terms of optimizing land development based on costs and budget constraints. Alternatively, the present disclosure may focus on other economic considerations such as return on investment (ROI). One example described below relates to the planning and development of a single pad commercial site. The present concept, however, is equally applicable to the planning and development of multi-pad commercial, mixed use, and residential sites, communications easements, roadways and railways, parking areas, and the like.
The land development process commonly employed today by professional real estate developers, corporations, government entities and others to assess land for engineering feasibility, cost of developing, and investment purposes is time consuming, inaccurate, and expensive. Unfortunately, the current process is getting even more complex and expensive due to added bureaucratic complications with land use zoning, environmental protection requirements, extended permitting processes, as well as the availability and escalating cost of land in desirable areas. This problem affects a broad spectrum of land users including, for example, real estate developers (office/industrial, commercial, retail, residential), corporations which own and use real estate (public/private), government entities (Federal, State, County, City).
For each of the above users, assessing the feasibility of a land site for development typically involves a land development team including one or more architects, engineers, and land planners. Many of these team members are engaged to layout and plan the intended uses on the site being considered. This initial planning process can take from 2 days to four weeks, and usually results in a single schematic drawing with limited information (e.g., will the site support the building footprints or building lots and the necessary streets and/or parking lots?). At this point, based largely on intuition and a “gut feeling” about the project, the developer will choose to contract for additional planning and engineering to more accurately assess the feasibility of the plan and the budget. This process can take 2 weeks to 16 weeks and usually results in only one option that is based on the designer's experience but is not optimized in any respect. This information is then used to estimate a more accurate budget. Often times value engineering is required to bring the design back within the original budget. This process takes 2 weeks to 6 weeks. The final budget is not generally determined until the end of the planning process—some 3-4 months after initial consideration of the land site.
The above planning process often must occur before the property is purchased, and requires substantial investment in legal fees and earnest money to hold the property for an extended length of time.
After this 4 week to 28-week process (average 16 weeks) and considerable expense and risk of lost opportunity, the developer must assess the risk of purchasing and developing the property based on one un-optimized design option. Unfortunately, the process outlined above is complicated even further by miscommunication and disconnect between the many groups involved, which often results in bad designs, bad budgets, disagreements, and bad projects.
The present applicant recognized that the land development industry needs a major paradigm shift, which is now possible through advances in mathematical modeling and computing hardware. One primary goal of the present disclosure is to fix the problems outlined above through a virtual engineering system that can produce many optimized alternatives for land development—including the planning, engineering, and budgeting of each potential solution. In exemplary implementations, this computing process may be achieved in a short period—often within a matter of hours.